Again, this week there are a lot of holes in our story but we do seem to have a pretty good idea of where they start (Santiago,Chile) and where they end (Mendoza, Argentina). It is the road in between that is not so clear. So lets begin again at the beginning.The first team to arrive at the Neptune Fountain in Santiago, Chile was Rob and Amber. From the lack of shadows it looks like it is close to high noon. As the other teams arrive the shadows begin to lengthen but not dramatically. So we can assume that the task was completed around noon time. So that means that again the next leg will begin in the dead of night.
And we do see Rob and Amber taking that cab in the middle of the night as Debbie and Bianca seem to be inside a hotel lobby asking directions for some place at the hotel desk. Now this is the first interesting thing for this leg. Rob and Amber arrived first and Debbie and Bianca were the sixth team to arrive, but now they are now together.
Where do they go with the taxi so early in the morning? Some speculate that they are going to the airport and fly to Mendoza, but this does not seem to match other footage that we will be seeing. So they may have a place to visit to pick up their next clue (if this is the case, there probably will be a major bunching waiting for the place to open after sunrise.)
Next we have Susan and Patrick driving in a nice new SUV of some sort. And from the looks of things it is early in the morning through the streets of Santiago. And later we see them driving with mountain scenery through the windows and the sun is now almost directly in Susan's eyes. We also have been told that they become completely lost and drive two hours in the wrong direction. If they then retrace their route they would be at least four or more hours behind everyone else. This will be a major handicap to overcome. And, in fact, this is the last we see of them in the previews.
So is the first task to do something in Santiago and then find their cars and drive up the mountain road from Santiago through Los Andes reaching the border at Portill. This would be a five to six hour drive. Here the road is that famous switchback to beat all switchbacks up to the border with Argentina at the Paso de los Libertores. This is the route that General Jose de San Martin took from Mendoza in 1817 when he led the Argentine army to drive the Spanish out of Chile and Peru. (More about this later).
The next we know about is seeing the teams walking, hiking, climbing up to the spot where the next clue box is located along side the abandoned tracks of the Transandine Railway which ran from Los Andes, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina. The interesting thing here is that none of the teams have their backpacks with them when they reach this clue box. So are their cars parked somewhere below at a scenic spot? Perhaps the famous natural bridge, Puenta del Inca? Or did they have to leave them at the border (no customs clearance for the cars? and walk to this site which may not be far away, but if this is the case, where are their backpacks?)
This, I think, is the DETOUR clue box. And the tasks seem to be a choice between PEDDLE a bike a certain distance along the railway track or PADDLE a raft through a trecherous white water course on the Rio Mendoza. In any case somewhere along the line they will have to retreave their back packs after they have completed the Detour. It looks like U/J and R/D are doing the rafting. The others looks like bikers. Except for S/P who are missing.
Their next stop may be the Parque Provincial Aconcagua where they will meet up with a really typical Argentine Churrasco or barbecue. This is the SUPERSIZED EATING CHALLENGE (not so much gross as first hinted at, but supersized like in the St. Petersburg caviar challenge.) And the Argentine churrasco is tremendous! And endless parade of beef, pork, lamb, sausage, and innerds (as my wife describes them). It could be a super size challenge and we do see everyone having trouble choking down the endless parade of goodies. Except Rob. This is truely CBS misdirection. His "I'm done!" is repeated over and over in the various commercials to give you the hint that he is throwing the challenge, taking a penalty, and perhaps putting he and Amber in danger of being eliminated. BUT, we have a nice sighting of them two or three legs later in South Africa, so do not be misled; I think he is saying he is done with his alliance with Ron and Ray or that he is merely stating that he is done eating.
The pitstop probably is in Mendoza. This would be a nice spot to stop after a very trying and difficult day. Mendoza also leads to the "Gaucho" country hinted at for Leg 4 and also has an international airport which would give the teams an escape route to London where we believe they will end up at the end of Leg 4. In Mendoza they may head for the Parque General San Martin and find the statue of General Jose de San Martin, Mendoza's most famous hero. He led the army which in February 1817 drove the Spanish out of Chile and Peru. So this nicely ties the first three countries visited by TAR7 together in a nice package.
The big question is where are Susan and Patrick? Will they be Boloized and saved by a "to be continued?" Once they leave Santiago we do not see them again. We have accounted for all of the teams at the Churassco Detour, but it is not clear how many of these teams are there together. The editing seems to show them all there together, which would mean a major bunching has occurred, or this is just the trick of editing and actually all the teams are not there at the same time.
We have the general outline of tomorrow's episode, but there are a lot of holes that someone else may be able to fill.
Good luck.
Email this topic to a friend
Printer-friendly version of this topic
Bookmark this topic (Registered users only)
